Time to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

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THE GOOD: Longo Long Ball. Evan Longoria hadn’t homered in almost 3 weeks, but has now homered twice in 3 games. With 2 on in the bottom of the 6th and the score tied 1-1, Dirtbag went deep to straight away center…Typical Shields. 7 innings, 2 runs, 99 pitches, 68 strikes. When James Shields is right, that is what the Rays will get 75-80% of the time…Carl Crawford. CC was 2-4 and scored 3 runs, including his second home run which started the scoring…Bullpen by Matchup. We better get used to this. Dan Wheeler started the 9th, needing a 3-up, 3-down to avoid facing Joe Mauer. He couldn’t do it. So with 1 man on and 2 outs, Joe Maddon went with Randy Choate for out #27. And he came through with a strikeout.

THE BAD: The Rays are tied for last place in the AL East and are actually a game behind the O’s in the loss column and 5.5 behind the Yankees.

THE TELLING: Scott Kazmir threw off the bullpen mound yesterday for the first time, indicating that his leg is healed and now it is time to heal his mechanics…

SUNBURST PLAYER OF THE GAME: Evan Longoria.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Aki Iwamura met with the media yesterday and said he hopes to return to the Rays next season. It would be a huge disappointment if that was Aki’s last game with the Rays. [The Heater]

There is still no timetable for Pat Burrell’s return but Andrew Friedman made it clear that he does not see this lasting much longer. Also, Jason Bartlett may be out longer than the two weeks originally projected and Chad Bradford will move his rehab assignment to double-A. [Tampa Tribune]

Rays the Stakes is starting a campaign to help get Jason Bartlett elected to the All-Star game. You know Bartlett right? When he is standing next to BJ Upton, he is the one that doesn’t suck right now. [Rays the Stakes]

The Rays Party speculates on some players the Rays could get for Aki Iwamura in a trade. [The Rays Party]

We have a lot of respect for the Twins organization, but if there is one fault, it is that they try to hard to get players to play the “Twins way,” like how they tried to make David Ortiz a hitter that just advanced runners. now we hear from Jason Bartlett that the Twins tried to change the way he played defense and only became comfortable when he came to the Rays. He does credit the Twins for helping him emerge as a team leader. [American Chronicle]

Forbes.com put together a list of the 15 “most-losing teams” in sports. All 3 of the Tampa Bay franchises are in the top 10. The list is based solely on all-time winning percentage. That seems far too simplistic not to mention there should be some consideration for franchises that have actually won championships. [Forbes]